6 juillet 2018 | International, C4ISR

The Pentagon’s latest budget is its largest counter-drone budget ever

As the Pentagon's latest budget slouches towards Washington, a $716 billion beast waiting to be born, it is time to take a closer look at how the robots in the budget survived the various committees and drafts. As expected, the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act is a boon for drones, allocating funding for nearly three times as many uncrewed vehicles as in previous years. Most of those new drones are small, cheaper models, which is a trend reflecting in the other big spending increased in this budget: the Pentagon is set to spend almost twice as much on countering other drones in 2019 as it spend on that same in 2018.

The Association of Unmanned Vehicles System International has provided an in-depth look at how exactly the 1.4 percent of the defense budget allocated to drones is spent, detailing the minute differences in the comparatively meager $9.6 billion allocation. From the AUVSI's report:

Separating the President's Budget request by domain, we see that air is receiving the largest funding support with the budget for unmanned aircraft reaching almost $7 billion in FY2019, followed by $1.5 billion for counter unmanned systems (C-UxS), $1.3 billion for unmanned maritime vehicles and $0.7 billion for ground robotics. From FY2018 to FY2019, the budget for C-UxS technologies almost doubles. Figure 2 also shows the number of unique projects and sub-projects that involve unmanned systems relative to the domains in which they are operating. Cross-domain operations of air and ground unmanned vehicles are supported by the largest number of projects. Over 60 percent of these efforts are funded by the U.S. Army. The U.S. Navy is also working to provide solutions for interoperability and teaming of unmanned vehicles across multiple domains as they support over half of the projects involving operations in all domains (air, ground, and maritime).

For the counter-drone mission, the Pentagon is splitting $1.5 billion between over 90 different projects, ranging from modifications to existing missiles and anti-air systems to directed energy weapons to electronic warfare software. The largest share of the 2019 budget for counter-UAS is set to go to the Army's Indirect Fire Protection family of systems, though the most interesting projects aren't always the budget headliners.

Buried further down the spending list is DARPA's “Multi-Azimuth Defense Fast Intercept Round Engagement System” (MAD-FIRES) project, which a projectile as agile and useful for interception as a missile, but cheap enough to be fired and fielded like a bullet. There's also a submunitions project from the Air Force to “Exploit the signatures of ISR targets; capture and catalog multi-spectral signatures on asymmetric threat Unmanned Aerial Systems.” That project is dubbed “Chicken Little,” perhaps with the explicit goal of making the sky fall.

What the diversity of counter-drone programs, and drone programs generally, in the new Pentagon budget show is that this is still a young field, one with drone types and countermeasures all in flux. It's likely that future years will see more spending on counter drone tools, but it's also equally likely that the range of countermeasures will shrink as people fighting learn first-hand what does and doesn't work.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/unmanned/2018/07/05/the-pentagons-latest-budget-is-its-largest-counter-drone-budget-ever

Sur le même sujet

8 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial

Air Force rolls out Advanced Battle Management System devices in COVID-19 fight
Nathan Strout The U.S. Air Force has begun deploying thousands of personal devices to military personnel and health care providers that allow them to access classified information from home or outside of the office, even though the devices themselves are unclassified. The devices were supposed to be demonstrated during a test of the Air Force's Advanced Battle Management System in April, which was delayed to August or September due to the ongoing COVID-19 situation. With the test pushed back, the Air Force decided to begin rolling out the devices to support the fight against COVID-19. “Even in a virtual, COVID environment, the team pulled together very rapidly to do something that we were going to demonstrate in April as a prototype,” said Air Force Chief Architect Preston Dunlap during a virtual Mitchell Institute event May 7. The devices are loaded with SecureView, a software architecture built on an “unclassified at rest” model. “(The software has) the ability to process classified information on a device that's unclassified when you're not using it. So you could literally throw it on the street—no problem. I wouldn't recommend it, but no problem. But then when you use it, you actually can operate and access the information you need much like you would in your office,” explained Dunlap. “We're deploying about 1,000 of those in about three week sort of cycles now to get them out to the force,” said Dunlap. In addition, the Northern Command ABMS team was able to deploy unclassified tablets with SecureView to healthcare workers in New York City and aboard the hospital ship previously deployed to New York City, the USNS Comfort. The team is also pushing out data and applications to those devices to give users real time awareness of patients' health status, Dunlap said. He also said they were using artificial intelligence algorithms to predict how COVID-19 will spread. The software was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory as part of DeviceOne, a line of effort under the Air Force's ABMS family of systems. ABMS is the Air Force's contribution to the Department of Defense's Joint All-Domain Command and Control concept, an ongoing effort to ensure connectivity between the services. Under JADC2, the Department's leaders want sensors to feed data to shooters in near-real time, regardless of domain. As envisioned, JADC2 systems should enable National Reconnaissance Office satellites to feed data to U.S. Army shooters, or U.S. Navy sensors to feed data to Air Force shooters. Dunlap noted that the use of DeviceONE to fight COVID-19 represented a real world on ramp of ABMS. “So from both a classified and unclassified world, seamless devices, mobility, data and applications where you need it, when you need it, are actually being demonstrated before our eyes in a real world current operation,” said Dunlap. “In some sense, you could call that we're actually doing a current ops on ramp to be able to support people and keep people safe.” The Air Force is largely agnostic towards which hardware is used for DeviceONE, said Dunlap. The program utilizes off-the-shelf consumer devices, enabling easy upgrades and keeping costs low compared to other DoD technology efforts. “For DeviceONE, all of the work that the team did was software-based and software security-based, and the hardware piece of that (we) are procuring and competing across the vendors that can provide the laptops, the tablets, the servers in the backend and so forth,” said Dunlap. While the system can be used to access any classification level, the configuration rolled out for COVID-19 support was limited to just the secret level. However, Dunlap said the software can be used for any classification level and was currently in use around the world by several combatant commanders. “It's incumbent for us to be able to provide the security and software on top of (the hardware) that enables our operators to be on that island, on that aircraft, in that Humvee, in the tents, and be able to get the information they need,” said Dunlap. And Dunlap added that the delayed ABMS test will be expanded when it does occur, incorporating Strategic Command and Space Command. Dunlap also hinted that the ABMS test after the August/September test will include Indo-Pacific Command, bringing the on ramp to the operational edge. “There's going to be a variety of key adjustments there,” said Dunlap. “Before, in December, it was mostly a Northern Command focus. We now have a Space Command and a Space Force, and so the predominant thing here is we're going to have the U.S. Space Command Commander, Gen. (John) Raymond, actually be the supported commander for the first time as opposed to a supporting commander.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/air/2020/05/07/air-force-rolls-out-advanced-battle-management-system-devices-in-covid-19-fight/
30 avril 2019 | International, Aérospatial

Poland acquires AW101 helos for Navy under $430M deal
By: Jarosław Adamowski WARSAW, Poland — As part of efforts to replace Soviet-designed copters with new aircraft, the Polish Ministry of Defence has signed a deal to acquire four AW101 helos from Leonardo for the country's Navy. The deal is worth some 1.65 billion zloty (US $430 million), and the aircraft are scheduled to be delivered to Poland by the end of 2022, the ministry said in a statement. The contract was inked April 26 at the European group's Polish subsidiary PZL Swidnik. Leonardo was the only bidder in the tender to supply the copters after Airbus Helicopters decided to pull out of the contest last December. The "offset requirements defined by the Polish [Ministry of Defence] made it impossible for Airbus Helicopters to submit a competitive offer," the manufacturer said in a statement sent to local news agency PAP. The new copters, fitted with anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and search-and-rescue (SAR) capabilities, are to replace the Navy's Kaman SH-2G Super Seasprite copters, according to First Deputy Defence Minister Wojciech Skurkiewicz. Local observers have also said the helos could replace the Polish Navy's Soviet-designed Mil Mi-14 copters. https://www.defensenews.com/global/europe/2019/04/29/poland-acquires-aw101-helos-for-navy-under-430m-deal
18 juin 2019 | International, Naval

FINCANTIERI ET NAVAL GROUP SIGNENT UN ACCORD DE JOINT-VENTURE. LE PROJET « POSEIDON » PREND FORME
Dans le prolongement de l'annonce faite le 23 octobre 2018, Fincantieri et Naval Group signent aujourd'hui à Rome l'Alliance Cooperation Agreement qui fixe les termes opérationnels de l'incorporation d'une joint-venture détenue à parts égales. L'accord, approuvé par les Conseils d'Administration des deux entreprises, incarne l'avancement du projet « Poseidon » et est une étape dans le renforcement de la coopération dans le naval de défense en vue de constituer une industrie européenne de construction navale plus efficiente et compétitive. L'accord a été signé par les PDG des deux entreprises, Giuseppe Bono et Hervé Guillou, à bord de la frégate Frederico Martinengo, amarrée à La Spezia sur la base navale de la marine italienne. Ce navire fait partie du programme franco-italien de frégates multi-missions (FREMM) et souligne la cohérence de vingt ans de collaboration entre les deux pays, leurs industries et leurs marines. La mise en place de la JV, prévue dans les prochains mois et en tout état de cause avant la fin de l'année, sera soumise aux conditions habituelles pour ce type de transaction et à l'obtention des autorisations nécessaires par les autorités compétentes. Gr'ce à la joint-venture, Fincantieri et Naval Group : Partageront leurs bonnes pratiques ; Mèneront ensemble des projets de recherche et développement sélectionnés ; Optimiseront les processus d'achat ; Prépareront conjointement des offres pour des programmes binationaux et les marchés à l'export. Sur la base de cet accord, l'entreprise aura son siège social à Gênes (Italie) avec une filiale à Ollioules (France). Comme cela a été établi dans l'accord d'actionnaires, la JV sera structurée autour d'un conseil d'administration composé de six membres avec trois membres nommés par chaque entreprise. Pour ce premier mandat de trois ans, Fincantieri nommera le Président et le Directeur des Opérations tandis que Naval Group nommera le Directeur Général Executif et le Directeur Financier. En raison de l'importance stratégique accordée par Fincantieri et Naval Group à cette opération, les membres du Conseil d'administration incluront Giuseppe Bono, nommé Président de la JV et Hervé Guillou. Cette JV doit permettre aux deux groupes et à leurs écosystèmes d'améliorer leurs capacités à servir les marines française et italiennes, de remporter de nouveaux contrats à l'export, de développer de nouvelles solutions technologiques et enfin, d'améliorer leur compétitivité de la filière navale des deux pays. A l'occasion de cette signature, Giuseppe Bono et Hervé Guillou ont déclaré : « Nous sommes très satisfaits des résultats obtenus et, surtout, nous souhaitons remercier nos gouvernements qui ont travaillé main dans la main avec nous au cours de ces derniers mois et continuent à le faire aujourd'hui, afin de parvenir à un accord qui puisse assurer la protection des actifs souverains tout en promouvant la coopération entre nos deux équipes. Cet engagement nous permettra de mieux servir nos marines, de fournir le support adéquat aux opérations à l'export et établira de manière effective les fondations d'une industrie de défense Européenne renforcée. » Fincantieri Fincantieri est l'un des plus grands groupes de construction navale au monde et le premier constructeur de navires du monde occidental en termes de chiffre d'affaires, de diversification et d'innovation. Il occupe une place de chef de file dans la conception et la construction de navires de croisière et se positionne comme un acteur de référence sur tous les segments haute technologie de l'industrie de la construction navale, depuis le naval aux navires off-shore, des navires spécialisés hautement complexes et ferries aux méga-yachts, en passant par la réparation navale et la conversion de navires, la production de systèmes et composants jusqu'aux services après-vente. Basé à Trieste (Italie), le groupe a plus de 19.000 employés, dont plus de 8.400 en Italie, 20 chantiers navals répartis sur 4 continents, et a construit plus de 7 000 navires en plus de 230 ans d'histoire maritime. www.fincantieri.com Naval Group Naval Group est le leader européen du naval de défense. Entreprise de haute technologie d'envergure internationale, Naval Group répond aux besoins de ses clients gr'ce à ses savoir-faire exceptionnels, ses moyens industriels uniques et sa capacité à monter des partenariats stratégiques innovants. Le groupe conçoit, réalise et maintient en service des sous-marins et des navires de surface. Il fournit également des services pour les chantiers et bases navals. Enfin, le groupe propose un panel de solutions dans les énergies marines renouvelables. Attentif aux enjeux de responsabilité sociale d'entreprise, Naval Group est adhérent au Pacte mondial des Nations unies. Le groupe réalise un chiffre d'affaires de 3,6 milliards d'euros et compte 14 860 collaborateurs (données 2018). https://www.naval-group.com/fr/news/fincantieri-et-naval-group-signent-un-accord-de-joint-venture-le-projet-poseidon-prend-forme/

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